A royal expert, Dr. Anna Whitelock, has revealed what she thinks about the ongoing Markle family drama, as reported by The Express . And she’s not necessarily speaking badly about the Markles, but rather, points out that it was a goof-up on the royals’ part not to put a support system in place. Whitelock called the entire debacle “an ongoing sore.” While it seems like the “sore” could be fixed with time (Thomas hasn’t given an interview in a few weeks now), or smoothed over by Meghan’s mom’s graceful public presence, it’s still there.
The expert believes that there should have been more done by the royals before the wedding took place. This is what Anna said.
“I think as soon as, or even before, the engagement was announced there should have been a kind of family liaison officer who would go to the Markle family and prepare and advise them.”
However, it doesn’t appear that such an officer was sent to them. Although, Prince Harry did personally tell Thomas not to get involved with the press over the phone. It didn’t work though, because Thomas ended up selling paparazzi photos before the royal wedding. And it’s not all Thomas’ fault if you were to ask Whitelock. She pointed out something else that’s interesting about the family drama.
Here’s the thing: if the royal family had a lick of PR sense, they’d welcome Thomas Markle into the fold, even if on the margins, and even if with chronic suspicion, Vinay Menon writes. https://t.co/PY8r1gNtMC
— Toronto Star (@TorontoStar) September 16, 2018
While Kate Middleton came from a regular family, her family had a better sense of how to deal with the media attention.
“[Kate’s family] were more typical for marrying into the Royal family. I mean they were not aristocrats, but they were upper middle-class and they knew how these things worked. They were not new to this in the way that the Markle family have been.”
In fact, Whitelock suggested the following.
“I think it is just naivety that this family from America which has no knowledge or experience of Royal circles would somehow be able to manage it all.”
Previously, another royal expert, Penny Junor, said something similar. She also pointed out that the Markles don’t come from Britain, and therefore have a different perception of the royal family. Notably, Junor suggested that they don’t have a “sort of inbred respect.”
‘It’d be easier if I DIED’ Thomas Markle SLAMS ‘superior’ Meghan in extraordinary rant https://t.co/38rNNptesn TRUE!!!
— Jo Ann m. Oblinger (@LHJmo4040) September 18, 2018
And while Thomas did a good job of not giving interviews right after Meghan’s engagement was announced, the pressure from the media appeared to break him after a certain point. From there, it was chaos.
Perhaps the royals believed that because the Middletons were so good at keeping quiet, that the Markles would be the same. For now, it’s hard to know what’s going on between the royals and Thomas, or if any direct communication has happened as of late.
